"You, you are…" The king stared wide-eyed at Jing Yang.
"I am the pureblooded mermaid who had originally come to marry His Royal Highness. Abby's father seized my bead and allowed Abby to pretend to be me to marry His Royal Highness." Jing Yang announced calmly.
"No!" Abby sat on the ground and shouted. "He's lying! I didn't seize his bead, that bead was originally mine! He's the one who swallowed my bead, and then was able to display powers."
The king looked at Abby and then looked at Jing Yang. Even though the facts were already placed in front of him, he still hesitated in his heart about who to believe.
Abby crawled over to Corey and shook his leg, crying, "Corey, believe me, I'm the real pureblooded mermaid! I'm the real one!"
Corey's leg was being shaken by Abby but he didn't even look at him. His eyes never moved away from Jing Yang, as if his soul had been sucked away.
"The bead is part of the body of a pureblooded mermaid. Only when they are inside the body of a pureblooded mermaid can they exert sufficient power. You took away my bead and believed that with my blood and your thoughts you could control the bead, but you didn't know that such an approach would not always be effective. One day, you would cause a greater disaster." Jing Yang told Abby, then looked at the king. "I can use my power to repair the ruby. Which of the two of us is the real mermaid, His Majesty can personally ask the mermaid king."
Abby's face turned pale and ugly. His body was completely paralyzed. He sat on the ground, his eyes full of despair.
The king trembled and pointed at Abby, wanting to say something. But he still hadn't even said anything before he fainted directly.
"Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty!"
The attendants hurriedly came forward to support him and called for the doctor, the hall devolving into a mess.
Corey finally came back to his senses and cried out, rushing toward the fainted king. "Father!"
The king was carried back to his bed. The officials looked at each other, not knowing what they should do.
Reibar glanced at Abby and said to the guards near the hall, "Bring this man away, wait for Royal Brother to wake up and dispose of him."
Abby was dragged away by the guards without struggling or resisting, only watching Corey leave the hall with the king. There was still a trace of hope in his heart that Corey would look at the fact that they had loved each other and see that he had done it all for his sake, and then allow him to stay.
Reibar knew that the king had fainted from anger and would soon wake up. When he woke up he would definitely want to see him, so he just brought the ministers directly outside the king's bedroom and waited.
Reibar took Jing Yang's hand while they stood at the door. The two looked at each other, and Reibar pinched Jing Yang's hand, using his gaze to appease him.
After the king woke up, the first words he spoke were to see Jing Yang and Reibar.
"Are, you the real, pureblooded mermaid?" The king lay down, looking very weak, but he still insisted on seeing them immediately.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I am the pureblooded mermaid who was supposed to marry the prince, but I was intercepted at sea by a group of pirates. The leader of those pirates was Abby's father. Abby's father seized my bead and collected a lot of my blood. Abby used my bead and blood in order to be able to call down the rain."
"Since, you're still alive, why, didn't you, show up, sooner, and clarify everything." After the king said this, he looked at Reibar. He thought it was that Reibar deliberately didn't let Jing Yang to tell the truth earlier, and had even said that Jing Yang was the man he was going to marry.
"I suffered many hardships before I finally managed to enter this country, and when I wanted to enter the palace, I was driven away by the soldiers guarding the gate. Later on I encountered His Royal Highness and Abby in the countryside, and I rushed up to tell His Royal Highness that I was the real pureblooded mermaid. I said that if he didn't believe me, I could find the mermaid king to verify it. But His Royal Highness not only did not believe me, but at Abby's request, sent me to the artificial mermaid auction house." Jing Yang looked at Reibar affectionately. "Luckily the king bought me and brought me back to the castle to help me heal my ailments, or else I wouldn't know what I would be experiencing right now."
"That person was you?!" Corey was in disbelief. "Impossible! Your appearances aren't similar at all, how could that person be you?!"
"Because Abby's father seized my bead and forced me to take a horrible poison, there was a huge change in my appearance. After being bought back by the king, the king helped me get drugs that could remove my toxin, restoring my appearance by 50 to 60 percent. Now that my bead is back, my appearance has completely recovered. As I said earlier, that is because the bead is part of the body of a pureblooded mermaid."
"This…how could it be?!" Corey still found it difficult to accept the fact that that person was the man in front of him. He actually personally sent away the pureblooded mermaid who should have married him.
"You, you…ke ke ke…" The king looked at Reibar and Jing Yang and wanted to speak, but violent coughing made him unable to say anything. The king spit out a mouthful of blood and fainted.
"Father!" Corey turned to the door and shouted, "Doctor! Doctor!"
The doctor was standing outside. He had barely just left the room when he had to rush back in to rescue the king.
Reibar could tell that this time the king would not wake up that quickly, so he left the palace with Jing Yang, going back to his castle.
Corey saw the two people leave hand in hand, and then thought of Abby, his heart filled with some unknown taste.
The officials saw Reibar leave, and they also slowly dispersed. But these officials all had different facial expressions, and would also sometimes exchange glances. They left in twos and threes. With a glance you would know that they were ready to get together to discuss something once they left the palace.
~
Abby was locked up in his cell all day and night, huddled in a corner hugging himself tightly. He didn't know what kind of outcome he was facing, but he kept praying in his heart that Corey would still have feelings for him. Even if he blamed him, he could bear it.
Hearing the cell door open, Abby slowly turned around and saw Corey standing at the door. His dull face finally showed an emotion.
"Corey!" Abby tried to stand up, but because he had stayed in a position for too long, his body and feet had become numb. Instead of standing up, he fell to the ground.
Corey walked slowly to his side. Instead of helping him up, he crouched down and looked at Abby with a complex gaze.
Abby got up from the ground and sat there, looking apologetically at Corey with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry."
"Why? Why did you lie to me? Why did you pretend to be a pureblooded mermaid and even do such a cruel thing to Leann." Corey finally asked. "Is it because of status and wealth?"
"No, no." Abby shook his head in tears and said sadly, "I know that I was wrong for deceiving you, but I really didn't do these things for status and wealth. I did it because I love you, I really love you so much, so I was desperate to get close to you."
"Love me?" Corey felt like he had been taken for a fool and now he didn't have any trust in Abby's words. "You're the son of a pirate, tell me, how did you fall in love with me before you took Leann's bead."
"You may not remember. When we were very young, we actually met. In the streets of the capital, I was separated from my father and was nearly hit by a car. It was you who saved me and even helped me find my father. Later, after you and your attendant left, I begged my father to take me to follow you and see where your home is so that I could find you again later. Then my father and I saw you walk into the palace. My father gave the guard some benefits and heard that you were the Royal Highness." Abby fell into the memory, his pale face showing a faint happiness.
"I loved you from then on. I could never forget you, but I knew that the gap in our identities was blocking us like a mountain so that we had no chance of being together at all. My father saw that I was always depressed, so he came up with the way of pretending to be a pureblooded mermaid."
Abby suddenly grabbed Corey's hand in agitation and cried, "Believe me, I really did it because I love you too much and missed you too much, so I would use this method to approach you. Otherwise, otherwise, I would have no chance to be able to be near you in my lifetime. My father and his men all died for this. Besides you, I have nothing. Please don't give up on me, I beg you."
"Don't give up on you? How do you want me to not give up on you? Continue to keep you by my side?" Corey's eyes seemed hollow, as he asked emotionlessly.
"As long as you can let me stay, no matter what identity I have I don't care! I don't care about being the princess, it's fine if you allow me to be a servant by your side, I beg you!" Abby held Corey's hand tightly and begged.
"Servant?" Corey pulled back his hand with force and stood up. "You said that quite easily, you think that you don't have to pay any price for what you did? Which servant in the palace wasn't born of innocence. And you, the son of a pirate, actually also pretended to be a pureblooded mermaid. A man who should be sentenced to death actually could become my servant?"
"No! Corey, I know I was wrong, but it was all because I love you too much. As long as every day I can look at you from afar, I will be satisfied!" Abby said, weeping.
"Father will make the decision about your life and death after he wakes up. But I want to tell you, I will never give you any affection and will definitely never leave you by my side." When Corey finished speaking, he turned and left.
"Corey! Corey!" Abby pounced at the door and pounded at it. He hit the door until his hands bled but there was still no movement outside. He could only slump down onto the ground, sobbing.
"Your Highness." The attendant saw Corey in the hallway and hurried over. "His Majesty is awake and says he wants to see you."
Corey had originally been walking in a daze but came back to his senses after hearing about his father. He immediately walked quickly to the king's bed.
"Father." Corey rushed over and knelt down.
The king's face was gray. The thrill that Abby gave him made him look like he was dying.
"Abby is being held in a cell. We are waiting for father's decision for his death." Corey told him.
"First lock him up, for the time being, he…" The king said weakly. "Leann, did, he leave, with Reibar?"
"Yes Father. Royal Uncle brought Leann away yesterday."
"Bring him, back to, the palace, quickly, he should be your, princess, living in Reibar's palace, is inappropriate."
Corey dropped his gaze. "But Father, even if I go pick him up, Royal Uncle will definitely not release him. He has said before that he was going to marry Leann."
The king thought with his eyes half-closed. Seeing Reibar and Leann's intimate appearance, the two may have already had a relationship. But giving the pureblooded mermaid he had used his life to exchange for his son so cheaply to Reibar, he absolutely could not let that happen. Even if they had already had a relationship, he was going to help Corey get Leann back.
"You let, the two of them, come and see me." The king said.
Random Notes:
About an hour: 2:45 pm – 3:40 pm, for 3.6k characters to 2.1k words.